|
Stricter seat belt enforcement and stiffer fines considered in North Dakota -
North Dakota's speeding fines are inconsistent and not enough people are wearing seat belts, the State Highway superintendent says. Col. Jim Hughes said that North Dakotans do not buckle up enough. He said that 45% of the state traffic deaths in 2001 were caused by rollover accidents and that 93% of those were not wearing seat belts. "If our seat belt laws were changed, we'd have a drop in fatalities even if we raise the speed limit." Legislators are considering higher speed limits, as well as stiffer fines and stricter seat belt enforcement (source - Associated Press). |
Unless people have their head in the sand, they should be very aware of a number of facts:
| 1. | Seat belts save lives. |
| 2. | There are so many warnings and cautions in vehicles about seat belts and air-bags that they resemble "wallpaper." If you can't read them, WALK!" |
| 3. | People learn (I think) about seat belts, and what they are for, at driving school. |
| 4. | There is no end to the types and styles of vehicle safety restraints that are available for children. |
| 5. | Most people have attended the funeral of a person(s) who died in a vehicle crash while not wearing a seat belt. |
| 6. | Newspapers feature articles almost every day about people who die in vehicle crashes while not wearing a seat belt. |
| 7. | Most children, by the time they have graduated from high school, have received grief counseling because a friend/associate has been "youthanized" by a parent or guardian. |
| 8. | A handful of children (and only a handful) are blessed with parents who care enough to make wearing seat belts a matter of love, and helped their children value and respect seat belts by "show and tell" - they led by example! |
How much more can state and federal governments do to make inherently lazy and uncaring parents and guardians wear seat belts?
Of course, there is a solution:
As far as the uncaring and irresponsible are concerened, make sure they have an organ donor card, and let them go out and kill themselves. Let's be thankful that these "organ volunteers" are willing to give their lives for the needy!
Let every parent and guardian be on notice, or better yet, force them to sign a declaration on their driving licenses, that the penalty for committing "youthanasia" - first degree, pre-meditated murder of an innocent child, carries a life sentence - NO EXCUSES! Their grief is more an expression of their guilt than their love. You don't toss someone you love through a windshield!
The pre-meditated murder of a helpless child because a parent or guardian is lazy should NEVER be tolerated by our society! Murder is murder, regardless of whether the weapon is a speeding car, or a speeding bullet!